9 January 2020

Commencing 2020 on a dispute resolution high note, the International Court of Arbitration (ICC Court) of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has registered its 25,000th case and announced record arbitration figures for 2019.

Case 25,000 involves parties from the Middle East and India and will be administered through the Secretariat’s office in Singapore.

The trailblazing ICC Court – named by the latest Queen Mary University Survey as the world’s most preferred arbitral institution – registered a total of 869 new cases in 2019, of which 851 cases under the trusted ICC Rules of Arbitration and 18 under its Appointing Authority rules. The 2019 figure marks a record year for the ICC Court in its almost 100-year history. Alexis Mourre, President of the ICC Court said:

“The continued growth in ICC Arbitration cases not only reflects ICC’s global expansion efforts to bring our services closer to users worldwide but also the level of trust placed in our superior-quality, neutral services that support trade and investment in volatile times.”

During the year that just concluded, the ICC Court scrutinized 664 draft arbitral awards in over 160 Court sessions.

In 2019, the ICC Court also administered a total number of  23 Emergency Arbitrator applications bringing the total number of emergency arbitration cases to 117 since 2012 when ICC first introduced the service as a response to arbitration user needs.

ICC also offers a range of services that can be used separately, successively or even concurrently with arbitration managed by the ICC International Centre for ADR. In 2019, the Centre registered 61 cases – 35 ADR cases, 16 requests for Expertise, four Dispute Board cases and six cases pertaining to Documentary Credits (DOCDEX).

“The 2019 results are brilliant. We thank the users of ICC Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Services for their continuous trust. Our focus going into the New Year remains on service excellence and meeting the ever-evolving needs of those who rely on ICC to resolve disputes efficiently and effectively so that business can continue,” said Alexander G. Fessas, Secretary General of the ICC Court and Director of ICC Dispute Resolution Services.

The full statistical report for ICC Dispute resolution will be published in the coming months.